Your next package from Amazon just might be delivered by a stoner as the world’s retail Godzilla suggests that its contractors emphasize the fact that they won’t be screening applicants for their use of cannabis.
The retail delivery company faces a critical shortage of drivers as the economy contracts while the Covid-19 pandemic has upended staffing paradigms across the country. As a result, Bloomberg reports that Amazon is suggesting that the business’s delivery “partners” responsible for operating its fleet of blue vans prominently advertise that employees will not be grilled about their use of cannabis, nor will they undergo testing looking for recent use of the herb.
Amazon reports that allowing the employment of pot smokers may increase the number of job applicants by 400% while screening applicants for the use of ganja cuts their prospective worker pool by as much as 30%.
The Bloomberg piece mentions a delivery partner that contends that the primary reason applicants failed drug tests in the past was from testing positive for cannabis. That partner now tests only for substances such as opiates and amphetamines.
Amazon’s competitors largely still screen applicants for cannabis because of concerns about insurance qualifications and liability issues, especially in states that have not yet enacted reforms of their pot laws.
While enhanced pandemic-related unemployment benefits have recently been terminated in most states, employers still report hardships in recruiting enough staff.
There is no data to suggest that cannabis enthusiasts do not make good employees. Many in the actual cannabis industry will attest to the fact that the cannabis culture is as capable and responsible as any other demographic in the workplace.
